


A Quiet Christmas

by GlynnisIsta8



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: 2019 ShieldShock Christmas Fic Exchange, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:23:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlynnisIsta8/pseuds/GlynnisIsta8
Summary: When Darcy's plans for Christmas change, she ends up alone at the Avengers' Upstate Base but for Steve Rogers.  She's had a hopeless crush on him while he's found himself increasingly aware of her. They're both awkward ducks around the other, hardly able to speak.It's going to be a quiet Christmas.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers
Comments: 33
Kudos: 191
Collections: 2019 ShieldShock Christmas Fic Exchange





	A Quiet Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wolviesgal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolviesgal/gifts).



> Merry Christmas to wolviesgal!
> 
> Her prompts included: "One of the two had Christmas plans, but they all went sideways and now both are stuck together trying to make the best of the situation;" 
> 
> I hope this fits the bill well enough and that you make very Merry this holiday. :)

Steve Rogers stopped in the doorway to Dr. Foster’s lab, the hint of a smile touching his face. 

It wasn’t the first time or even the one hundredth in recent days. He found reasons to visit the lab more and more all the time. But, it was still new. While Tony or Sam might find it hard to believe, Steve hadn’t always been serious or sad. Steve understood why they might think that, though. The loss of time had weighed heavily on him. Before Dr. Foster moved her lab to the Avengers’ Upstate base, bringing Darcy Lewis with her, Steve hadn’t found much to smile about in the 21st century. 

He’d never wanted to be in the 21st century, never felt personally connected to this new time. He longed for his old life- for Bucky’s friendship as they’d been before Hydra, for what felt like simpler times, for what he’d been on the cusp of with Peggy. Since waking, Steve gave all he could to save people without developing relationships beyond camaraderie with those who fought by his side. He existed in the 21st century without really _living_ in it.

Then, he met Darcy.

What Steve felt now wasn’t yet a solid connection, just the possibility of one. He hadn’t acted on it. His nerves got the better of him around Darcy too much. But even a possibility was new. And good

Without effort, Darcy Lewis eased past Steve’s seemingly-implacable emotional shield. 

It wasn’t just that Darcy was pretty. And clever. It wasn’t just that she had a sweet figure that left him weak in the knees. It was the mischievous spark in her eye, her easy laughter, her kindness and loyalty to friends, her incisive wit, common sense, and her often-blunt honesty. 

Darcy Lewis was a breath of fresh air. Steve wanted to breathe deeply for the first time in years.

“I don’t have to go! I don’t have to go!” Darcy repeated in jubilant sing-song fashion as she danced a jig. Her head thrown back and bent wrists down by her side, she proclaimed, “ _Snoopy Dance_ in honor of my escape from Christmas Hell! Thank you, thank you, thank you, virulent flu that hit my overbearing aunt!” Darcy’s luggage fell over as she bumped into it. She continued to dance and giggle.

Pragmatic, Dr. Foster interrupted, “so, what will you do instead?”

Darcy stopped dancing, lips forming a pout. “Aww. I don’t have a plan. I thought I had to go suffer Aunt Esther’s Esther-ness. And, I don’t. Yay! But I won’t get to see my cousins and lose at cards cuz I’m laughing as poor little Max gets stuck on the Grinch’s face or cuz ‘SQUIRREL!’ in the Griswold tree. Aw! Tree! I don’t have a tree since I wasn’t gonna be here, which it’s too late to fix. No!! The lot in town closed this morning. Aw, tree. I’ll really miss that. The scent! No candle’s near as good.” Darcy tried to shift away from that disappointment. “I guess I can hang a sock or something, but I don’t even have a real Christmas stocking! Or much food. Or… a tree.” Her pout deepened further. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve. Darcy froze in place and swallowed hard. “Oh. Cap. Hey!” With an effort, she turned away from admiring him and back to Jane. She shrugged. “Oh, well, it’ll just be like a regular weekend for me, I guess. Quiet. A quiet Christmas.” Darcy had shifted from celebration to mourning to an attempt at acceptance in the space of a moment. Steve’s presence, something that always pulled her focus to the exclusion of all else, heightened her emotions.

“Thor’s not here right now, Captain,” Jane turned to Steve. When he didn’t turn to leave immediately, but instead continued to watch her friend, Jane covered a knowing grin.

He nodded shortly as Darcy slumped over her desk. “Thanks.” Slowly, Steve turned towards the door. His gaze stayed locked on Darcy, longing plain in his face.

“Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome Christmas, come this way!” Darcy sang softly, trying to cheer herself. “I’m Darcy Lou Who this year, but alone once you go back to Space, Janie. And without a tree!” She nodded as though steeling herself. “It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without… something I can’t remember… and… I think bags?”

“Maybe you could…?” Dr. Foster hugged her friend.

“Third wheel on your romantic Space vaca?” Darcy shook her head and pushed Jane away. “NOPE. Nu uh. Nada. No way. No thanks. No how.” She shuddered. “Ugh. No.”

Dr. Foster tried again, “or we could stay and…?”

Darcy stomped her foot. “No way! Go. You love Space.” She nodded with more energy. “I’ll be fine. I’ll drink some Christmas cheer and cry over Ellen’s gooey sweet Gifting giveaway videos online. Watch Grinch and Charlie Brown or the Christmas Story marathon. I’ll try being quiet for a change.” Her smile gleamed more each second. “I’ll catch up on my sleep and beat the next level of my game and search for new songs.” Despite her natural optimism, her assertions sounded hollow.

As Jane Foster nodded reluctant acceptance of Darcy’s reassurances Steve continued to watch them. He saw Darcy’s smile fade again when she thought Jane wouldn’t notice. Then, he took a step back as she turned her attention to him again.

“D…did you want something else, Cap?” Darcy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She started to open her mouth to say more, but closed it again when nervousness hit. She stared at him, awed as ever by his earnest handsomeness. 

Steve did want something. The force of desires overwhelmed him as he met Darcy’s sweet gaze. He wanted her. He wanted time with her. He wanted to please Darcy. Wanted to know her. To get close.

Steve shook his head, noting that his heart-rate increased whenever he spoke to the pretty brunette or she spoke to him. His thoughts swirled more, freezing him. “Sorry. I… I just… I’ll be around this weekend, too. I have provisions. Stuff in my freezer. If you need anything, let me know. If you want. I don’t know of any others staying here. I let Security have off. But, you’ll be safe.” He abruptly stopped talking, thinking he’d brought up the possibility of danger stupidly. He stared at Darcy, mouth working as he tried to come up with something else to say. He failed. The experience took him back in time to the worst aspects of his younger years.

Dr. Foster looked from one of them to the other and then turned away, shaking her head. While Thor had mentioned to expect the Captain to be awkward in conversation with a non-Avenger, it was worse than she’d expected. Also, Jane had never seen anyone render Darcy speechless before. But awkwardness prevailed between the two. Neither Steve nor Darcy seemed able to stop staring at the other long enough to get their thoughts together. It went much the same way anytime they were near each other.

“That’s great, Captain. It’ll make me feel better to know that someone’s looking after Darcy while I’m away.” Jane kept her expression neutral and innocent.

Darcy shot Jane a glare. “I don’t need looking after. You need looking after!” Her mouth shut again as she turned to Steve. “Not that I’d mind… I mean… uh… Thanks, though. I know I’m safe with you and… and… thanks.” Red suffused her face.

With a short nod, Steve turned and left them. While he didn’t consider anything beyond his next impulse, he was single-minded as he went to his quarters and found what he needed to take with him as he left the base.

\---

Darcy wiped happy tears away as the last of the Ellen Degeneres giveaway videos finished playing. When she turned off her TV, it struck her. 

Quiet.

The Avengers’ Upstate Base hummed habitually. There seemed to always be training sessions and tests of new technology. Orders and yelling and laughter. Quinjets flew in and out around the clock. Avengers set out daily to help people caught up in terrible situations. Support staff cleaned and tested weapons. People argued and strategized and moved with righteous purpose. But now they were gone. Most significantly to Darcy, Jane had left, taking her hummingbird-like SCIENCE energy with her. The sun had set and people had gone home to families or on vacations, all enjoying Christmas Eve elsewhere.

Quiet.

The quiet was thick and dark. Darcy’s awareness of its stillness grew. The silence jarred her nerves. There were no voices raised in disagreement or celebration. No mysterious mechanical noises. No shouts of encouragement to battling Avengers or among scientists.

Just quiet.

“FRIDAY?” Darcy’s voice felt small. “Are the Captain and I really the only people here tonight?”

“The Captain is not inside the facility at present, Miss Lewis. The Lanning family from Maintenance staff is in their on-base home and you are in your quarters in the main building. Otherwise, all personnel have left the premises.” The AI’s crisp Irish lilt had a pleasant, though impersonal, undertone. 

Darcy frowned as she wondered where Steve had gone.

She wasn’t sure where she was going when she left her room. Her slipper-clad feet’s soft shuffling echoed in the empty halls. Darcy stopped and stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined one hallway. Snow fell hard and fast. The flakes were enormous. The cold blue reflection of downy snow created a soft alien landscape over the grounds. It was lovely. “Wow. A white Christmas!” Her voice echoed down the empty corridor. She shivered.

Darcy walked and walked, looking out the windows as she went. The snowfall mesmerized her. Finally, the quiet was too much. “FRIDAY? Could you play some Christmas carols? Not loud, just something to keep me company?” ‘Winter Wonderland’ bounced off the walls. It lifted Darcy’s spirits a bit.

As she reached the Avengers’ common room, loud thumps sounded from outside. Darcy stopped walking. “What’s that?”

Before the AI could answer, the door blew open. 

Snowflakes swirled in chillingly as an evergreen tree was thrust through the doorway. Darcy stared; eyes wide. The tree was over eight feet tall and almost perfectly Christmas tree shaped. Its movement stopped as Steve Rogers entered the room behind it, peered around the tree, and saw Darcy standing there.

“Wow.” Darcy was stunned.

“I got you a tree,” Steve blurted. “You sounded sad.” He shifted from one foot to the other. “So, I got you a tree.” He nodded as though emphasizing his words.

Silence fell between them.

“You… what? How?” Darcy looked out the window at heavy snow swirling all about. 

Steve set down an axe. “We live near a forest. Took me a while, but I finally found one that looked right.”

A small laugh of surprise escaped her. “You cut me a tree!” A mental image of him in action passed through her mind’s eye and Darcy shook her head in wonder. “Wow.” She choked. “Sorry. I’m bad at words sometimes.” She left unsaid that she was only ‘bad at words’ around him.

Steve all but shuddered with awkwardness. “Yeah. I…” He looked around. “Oh! I don’t have a stand. I didn’t think it through.” A blush crept into his cheeks as he rubbed one hand over the back of his neck.

She nodded. “Still sweet. Thank you.” Darcy scanned the area, relieved to have something to focus on other than Steve Rogers and his unfair levels of hotness. “I’d bet we can rig something up.” Steve leaned the tree against the wall and smiled at her. Darcy felt butterflies take flight in her stomach. “You’re smiling. It’s a nice smile.”

“You’re clever. I like that. I bet you can figure it out.” He looked at her warmly.

Darcy had never felt so determined to live up to a compliment in her life. Her gaze darted here and there and settled on a maintenance closet in the hall outside the room. In moments, she had unceremoniously removed an artificial plant from its large planter and rigged together two buckets. She set the larger inside the planter and filled it halfway with water. She turned the smaller one upside down inside the larger and directed Steve to help her cut a tree-sized hole in it. He had the strength to manage it with the plant scissors they found. The hole was crude and not at all smooth, but effective. The tree hardly wobbled. After many minutes’ creativity, they had the tree standing proudly in the center of the room.

“Nice. Needs decorating, though.” Steve looked around them. “Do you want the tree in your quarters instead of this common room?”

Darcy paused, then stammered, “Oh! D…d…don’t need to go to so much trouble…”

Steve lifted the tree, make-shift stand and all, as though it was weightless. “Not a problem.”

“Guess not.” Darcy laughed helplessly. “It’d be awesome to have a tree at my place. Thank you.” Her eyes sparkled.

“You’re smiling, too.” Steve looked pleased with himself, almost smug. He started walking, carefully supporting the tree in its make-shift stand. From time to time, he glanced at her. It was plain in his face that he liked what he saw when he looked at Darcy.

With no one around to redirect her attention, Darcy finally saw Steve clearly. Reading his expression, Darcy felt as though her heart had stopped. She’d thought her long-time crush on him ridiculous and hopeless. She wondered if he could hear how fast her heart beat in the quiet that fell between them. To distract herself, she focused on the tree. “I only have one strand of lights around a window. Not really enough to do this beauty justice.” She walked over to another plant and began to remove a strand of lights someone had draped over it.

“Give me a second.” Steve paused, setting the tree down as he pondered. “I’ve seen strands of lights in nine different locations on base, not including the home of the one family celebrating here.” He counted off on his fingers. “Cantina, Med Bay, Lounge close to Tony’s lab, Snack room near Dr. Foster’s lab, common area by Avengers’ quarters, by the Counselor’s office, and three in the Cafeteria. I can’t guarantee they’re all still there, but they have been in those locations this week.”

“We have a battle plan, then. At least for lights. Not sure if yarn would help in some way. I don’t have much sewing thread. But it seems like we ought to be able to dig up some popcorn for decorating!” Darcy frowned. She grabbed a red poinsettia plant. “At least we can put a few flowers in the tree. No one will know the difference. Maintenance around here is bad with plants. They would throw this out in a few weeks.”

Steve grinned and nodded agreement. “Good thinking. And, I have plenty of thread. I’m hard on clothes and I can’t stand wastefulness. Grew up during the Great Depression.” He shrugged, looking at her evenly. He hated to remind people of his age, but wanted Darcy to accept him for who he was.

Darcy’s face fell guiltily. “Hey. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about how much you miss your home time when I was celebrating not having to go to Aunt Esther’s. You must think I’m terrible! Ungrateful for what I have. I’m sorry.”

Steve made a wry face and shook his head. “I listen. I’ve heard you lament your Aunt Esther more than once and I’m glad you don’t have to put up with… Well, I don’t mean to be rude. She’s your aunt, after all. But, I don’t blame you.” He adjusted the tree ‘stand’. “Sometimes family isn’t the same thing as home. Sometimes you have to find a new one. This is my home now.” 

Steve was surprised to find that he meant what he was saying.

Darcy shot him a skeptical look. “I’m not sure I buy that. I’ve seen video of Peggy Carter. She was awesome. It made me question my sexual orientation. If I ever grow up, I’d like to be one millionth as awesome as that.”

“Y…you’re awesome in different ways. Darcy ways.” Steve stopped walking again; expression serious. “I like you just the way you are.”

“That sounds like something out of a rom-com. Go on.” Darcy laughed softly, unable to meet his gaze.

As they both stumbled to silence, they heard ‘Home for Christmas’ playing.

Voice forced, Darcy offered, “Popcorn! I have low calorie snack packs of it. It’ll take a while to microwave enough, but at least it’s not greasy.” She met his questioning gaze. “Gotta watch the calories this time of year. One of the amazing perks of not being with Esther is that I don’t have to put up with her warnings about being a big fat snow beast.” She nodded and walked faster as they neared her quarters.

“I think you’re beautiful.” Steve’s whisper caught them both off-guard. Steve, because he hadn’t stopped himself from speaking his thought. Darcy, because she was stunned with delight.

Her smile was bright as she opened the door to her quarters. “I’ll move a chair so you can put the tree in the corner by the fire. It’ll be perfect. Just what I wanted.”

He held his silence as he followed her directions. With a concerned glance, he noticed that Darcy was shaking. Finally, Steve managed, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m sor..”

Darcy held up a hand, gesturing for silence. She shook her head as she moved closer to him. After he put the tree in place, she replied with a whisper, “don’t. Don’t apologize. Just… say it again.”

“You’re beautiful.” Steve’s voice was stronger this time. “I like you.”

Darcy steeled her resolve and stepped even closer to Steve. Without a word, she went up on tiptoes and leaned up to kiss him softly. “Thank you. I like you, too.” She took a step back and dared to look him in the face. She’d never seen him smile so happily before. She blinked back tears as she realized that he was finally open to something in her time--- her.

Steve took her hand. “How about I gather the lights and get thread while you begin popping popcorn? I think I know where to find fresh cranberries to string and even have makings for cocoa. Could I bring that back here so we could enjoy it while decorating your tree? Maybe we could watch those Christmas movies you like or play cards. Maybe…”

Darcy nodded agreement and smiled broadly at him. Without a word, she pointed towards her lips. Steve took the hint and kissed her again. One kiss led to another. When she pulled back for air, she gasped, “YES. Yes to cocoa. Yes to decorating the tree. Yes to movies. No to cards, cuz I’d rather make out.” She winked at him. “Yes to you.”

Realizing that she was shaking from excitement, Steve gave Darcy one more quick kiss as he left to do as he’d said. He wanted to get back to her quickly. He wanted to kiss her again… slowly.

Waiting for him, Darcy savored the quiet. 

Knowing that Steve would return soon, she dug out popcorn and got to work. She hummed along with carols and replayed her interactions with Steve. He liked her. He brought her a tree because he didn’t want her to be sad. He thought she was beautiful.

And they were going to have an amazing, quiet Christmas together. While popcorn popped, Darcy sent a text to her cousins wishing them a Merry Christmas. She even sent a ‘get well’ message to her aunt. Then, she removed her strand of lights from the window. Outside, the snow had stopped. She put the next bag in to pop and opened the first into a large bowl to cool.

When Steve returned, he set down the supplies he’d brought and pulled Darcy close for a long, deep kiss. Darcy ran her fingers up the back of his neck, pulling him closer. They enjoyed holding each other close for a while. Then, they worked together to piece together the light strands and string the popcorn and cranberries. They laughed through the animated ‘Grinch’ movie and ‘Christmas Vacation’.

Later, they fell asleep cuddled together on the sofa in front of a dimming fire. 

Darcy chuckled as she woke. FRIDAY had played Christmas carols all night long. The fire had long since burned out, but the tree lights twinkled in the dim room. Christmas had come!

Feeling her shift against him, Steve murmured in morning greeting, “Merry Christmas.”

Darcy nuzzled closer. It was the best Christmas she’d ever had. “Definitely Merry.”

**_fin_ **


End file.
